Trump Signs Executive Order Easing Federal Restrictions on Marijuana

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday directing the federal government to ease restrictions on marijuana by reclassifying the drug to allow expanded medical research, according to reporting by The New York Times.

The order would move marijuana from Schedule I — the most restrictive category under federal drug law, alongside heroin — to Schedule III, which includes drugs such as ketamine. The change is intended to reduce barriers to scientific research but does not legalize marijuana at the federal level, The New York Times reported.

According to senior administration officials cited by The New York Times, the order does not change law enforcement practices related to marijuana arrests and leaves existing criminal penalties in place.

The executive order also authorizes a pilot program that would allow Medicare to reimburse patients for products containing cannabidiol, or CBD, a non-psychoactive compound derived from cannabis. The program is expected to include certain medical treatments, including those used by cancer patients, the newspaper reported.

The move follows a yearslong federal review of marijuana’s classification. In 2022, then-President Joe Biden asked the Department of Health and Human Services and the Drug Enforcement Administration to examine whether marijuana should be rescheduled. Nearly a year later, HHS recommended moving the drug to Schedule III based on scientific findings that cannabis has medical value and a lower potential for abuse than Schedule I substances, according to The New York Times.

That recommendation has since stalled in a formal rulemaking process at the DEA, the report said.

Trump said earlier this week that reclassification would allow more research to take place. “It leads to tremendous amounts of research that can’t be done unless you reclassify,” Trump said, according to The New York Times.

The decision has faced opposition from some Republicans. Eighteen GOP senators and 26 House Republicans recently sent letters opposing the reclassification, arguing it could encourage marijuana use and harm public health. Conservative nonprofit group CatholicVote has also lobbied against the change, The New York Times reported.

Supporters include Howard Kessler, a longtime Trump ally, who advocated for the Medicare pilot program. In a statement cited by The New York Times, Kessler said the executive order represents a major shift in health care policy and could expand access to cannabinoid-based therapies.

Dr. Kevin Hill, a psychiatry professor at Harvard Medical School, told The New York Times that rescheduling marijuana would reduce barriers to research but said funding remains a key challenge.

“Rescheduling should provide an opportunity for research on a larger scale,” Hill said, adding that states and cannabis companies may need to contribute more funding to support studies.